Tagged articles : Vinification

We were warmly welcomed to Domaine Chapelle last weekend by Jean-François, Yvette and Myriam, for the first of the Vinification Experience Days for the 2017 vintage. The aim of these interactive oenology courses is to learn about the wine-making process and the decisions that the wine-maker takes in the cellar, picking up where we left off after the harvest through to the time when the wine is ready for bottling.

After a welcome coffee, we started the day with an introduction to the winery by Jean-François. He told us about the history of his family, how the Burgundy wines are classified using the Appellation d’Origine Controlée (AOC) system, and the geology that defines the different Burgundy vineyards. We learnt that even before the grapes are transformed into wine, the terroir enters into play, differentiating the wine that comes from different vineyard plots.

These precious nuggets of information set us up for the rest of the day that would be dedicated to learning about the wine-making process and tasting wines.

One group stayed with Yvette for a fun sensorial workshop to identify the aromas and balance on the palate of Burgundy wines. This was an important step in preparing for the wine tasting to follow.

The other group went with Jean-François to visit the fermentation hall and cellar where the wines age in oak barrels. Jean-François explained the work in the cellar during the ageing process and to better illustrate the influence that the barrels play on the aromatic and gustative characteristics of the wine, we tasted the same Santenay Gravières Premier Cru wine, the only difference being the type of barrel in which it was ageing.

Surrounded by the large wooden vinification casks, we enjoyed a Santenay Saint-Jean white wine accompanied by the famous local gougères for the aperitif.

We then sat down to lunch with other local delicacies. Jambon persillé, poulet Gaston Gérard, a selection of local cheeses and chocolate desert, accompanied by three different wines, the Santenay Clos des Cornières, Santenay Premier Cru Beaurepaire and Chassgane Montrachet Premier Cru reds.

After lunch we headed out into the vineyard to meet our adopted vines and immortalise the moment with some photos. Jean-François pointed out the different areas of the Clos des Cornières vineyard, planted with three different ages of vines, the grapes from which are used in the making of the wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. The oldest plot of vines will shortly be cleared and replaced.

Having different ages of vines in the same plot is often used to manage the longevity of a particular vineyard so as to not have to replace all of the vines at once, and thus be deprived of the wine for several years. It takes roughly 5 years before the vines will produce grapes that can start to be used to make wine.

We then returned to the fermentation hall for a final wine tasting to compare the impact that the age of the vines has on the wine. We tasted the wine from the three different plots that make up the Clos des Cornières vineyard. They are each made and aged separately, until they are blended, shortly before bottling. We could taste the difference for ourselves and also noted that tasting wines that have not yet finished their ageing process is not always the easiest thing to do!

Ageing is a very important phase for softening the structure of the tannins and developing the aromatic complexity. Patience is needed, and a little imagination to try and foresee how the wine will turn out after a few more months ageing.

The time had come to end this great day learning and exchanging about wine. We’d had a privileged insight into the secrets of making wine, and we can’t wait to taste the final result of this 2017 vintage!

Last weekend saw the first Gourmet Odyssey wine-making courses of the year take place at Château de la Bonnelière in the Loire Valley. The snow that had fallen earlier in the week could still be seen in places, and was highlighted by the sun that shone down upon us.

Over a coffee and some croissants, our partner winemaker, Marc Plouzeau, welcomed us and explained the history of his family’s winery.

The winery has some 30 hectares of vines, all of the vineyards being located on the left bank of the River Vienne, something of which Marc is very proud as he has a penchant for the unique terroir that characterises the wines from this region of the Chinon wine appellation.

A busy day awaited us which would see us meet our adopted vines, visit the chai to learn about the vinification techniques used to make wine, learn how to taste wines, enjoy lunch with the winemaker, and visit the cellar to taste the wines that are currently in the ageing process!

To start, a quick visit of the adopted vines that were resplendent in their dusting of snow under the morning sun! It was also the opportunity to take a few pictures for the My Vine photo competition and to talk with Marc about the work that is currently in progress in the vineyard.

We then split into two groups. The first went to the chai with Marc and the second put their noses to the test in a workshop to help identify some of the aromas to be found in wine.

With Marc, the apprentice winemakers discovered the work that takes place during the fermentation and ageing stages, starting with where we left off at harvest time. All of the wines at the winery are made and kept separate according to the plot of vines where the grapes come from, and Marc enlightened us regarding the differences between wines that are aged in a vat or a barrel.

The aroma workshop helped us spot which aromas could help us identify a particular grape varietal and which could give us some pointers as to how the wine made or aged. It was a fun exercise that we could put into practice as we tasted the wines over lunch!

The morning drew to a close, and we reconvened in the Petite Bonnelière building where lunch awaited! As always, we enjoyed the tasty meal, prepared by Marc’s mum that paired perfectly with the wines.

After lunch, we made our way to the Marc’s cellar, located in a vast cave underneath the Chinon fortress.

The cellar is where the wines that are aged in barrels are kept. It’s the perfect place because the temperature and humidity are always constant. We had the privilege of tasting some of the 2017 wines that are still in the ageing process. We tasted a wine that is ageing in a vat, one in a new barrel, another in a barrel that has been used for a few wines already, finishing with a press wine. A few grimaces as the press wine bit into the cheeks, as the press wine is made from the juice that is extracted from the solid matter that is left in the bottom of the vat after the maceration period. It’s a very tannic and concentrated wine that is not meant for drinking on its own, but can add complexity and depth when blended with other wines. It was a great way to complement what we had learnt in the morning and to learn about different choices available to a winemaker!

It was a fantastic weekend to start the new year, and we thank Marc for all of his passionate explanations.

The sun was awaiting the participants at Domaine Allegria for the Vinification Experience Day, the last of the wine experience days for the adoptive vine parents of the 2016 vintage. The aim of the day was to discover what happens in the cellar after the grapes have been picked at harvest time up until the wine is ready for being bottled.

We started the day with a quick visit to the vineyard to see our adopted vines, where we took a few souvenir photos. We also learnt about what has been happening in the vineyard at the moment, what work has been done since last year’s harvest, and how the vines have come back to life in the spring.

We learnt how the vines had been pruned, a long task that had finished three weeks earlier. The cut branches had then been pulled from the vines and left between the rows to be crushed.

When we returned from the vineyard, we visited the cellar from top to bottom. The questions flowed. What is a wine without sulphites, why do you use selected yeasts, and many more such topics. We talked in detail about the different processes between making red and white wine.

We then tested our sense of smell with the help of 12 bottles containing different aromas. This exercise would help us find some of the words to describe the wines that we were to taste later.

Lunch was served in the sun on the terrace. The winery’s rosé Dolce Vita 2016 wine was served in a jeroboam for the aperitif. We tasted different wines, paired with local charcuterie and a lentil salad; the Cinsault Abuelo 2015, a Carignan Gourmand 2015, and the Cousu Main 2013 in a magnum. With the goat’s cheese from the nearby Mas Roland, we tasted the Tribu d’A white 2015, which goes perfectly with cheese. We finished the meal with the Grande Cuvée La Belle Histoire 2015, a great vintage for Languedoc wines. With the delicious almond cake and profiteroles, we enjoyed a coffee.

After lunch, we returned to the cellar to taste three of the wines from the 2016 vintage that are still in the ageing process. Each of the wines was of a different grape varietal, enabling us to learn the different characteristics of Cinsalut, Syrah and Mourvèdre. The wines are still young, and full of carbon dioxide following the fermentation. But they were also very soft considering the stage that they are at, and already enjoyable to drink.

Having tasted these different wines, the next exercise was to have a go at blending them together. We learnt that blending the different grape varietals together gives a deeper and more complex final wine.
By the end of the day, we had learnt many new things about wine, and will have a few stories to recount when we open the next bottle!

Today is a festival for our taste buds! We're going to taste and re-taste all of the wines at Domaine la Cabotte in the Côtes du Rhône Massif d'Uchaux region during a Gourmet Odyssey Vinification Experience Day.

The 2016 vintage wines are still slowly finishing the vinification process in the vats. The weather is a little unstable, and the arrival of the rain sees the participants put on our boots. The vines are delighted and all of the young buds get ready to soak up this lovely spring rain.

Marie-Pierre and Eric, the owners take us to meet our adopted Grenache vines that are used in making the Garance wine. The cameras come out and click away to immortalise the moment.

As the first drops of rain start to fall, we head for cover in the chai. Here, Marie-Pierre had prepared a long table with wine glasses, bottles and spittoons. We each take a seat as Eric explains how the grapes are transformed into wine.

The questions flow and we cover lots of topics. We learn about the fundamental role of yeast, which is naturally present on the grape skins, and turns the sugar into alcohol. Each vat of wine ferments at its own pace, one of the wonderful mysteries of wine-making. We taste different wines that are still ageing to appreciate for ourselves how they are each developing.

We then head to the caveau to put our noses to the test. We try and identify the floral and fruity aromas that can be found in wine: blackcurrant, lime tree, blackberry chocolate truffle, raspberry, lemon, honey etc...

There are two or three "noses" in the group who are very good at naming the different aromas, but for the majority of us, it's more difficult to put a name to them. That is until we're told what the smell is, and we hear a chorus of "of course it is!"

It is now lunch time, and we sit down to enjoy a pork confit, local goat's cheese and dessert. Each dish is accompanied by different wines, and we enjoy our glasses of Clairette, Colline, Gabriel, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

In the afternoon the sky clears, and Eric takes us on a walk around the vineyard to better understand the Massif d'Uchaux terroir and its influence on the wine's style. The ground is very rocky and the vines share the plateau with trees and scrubland, giving the wine both complexity and freshness.

The day draws to a close, and we look back on the variety of tastes and smells that we have enjoyed and discovered. We also load the car boots up with a few bottles of our favourite wines to take a little piece of Domaine la Cabotte home with us!

Last weekend, we participated in the first Vinification Experience Days of the year at Château de la Bonnelière. The programme for the day was to learn about the work involved to vinify and age the wine after the harvest and up until the wine is ready for bottling. As we were to discover, there is much to do, and there are many decisions to be taken by Marc Plouzeau, the owner and winemaker!

The day started with a welcome coffee or cup of tea, whilst Marc recounted the history of the winery and brought us up to speed on the work in the vineyard since the last harvest.

We ventured out into the vineyard to pay a visit to our adopted vines. They had been pruned at the start of the winter, but the cut branches hadn’t yet been pulled clear of the training wires, giving some the occasion to have a go at this fairly physical activity!

We then divided into two groups, one going with Marc to the chai, and the other heading to a workshop to train our senses to help us better taste wines.

In the chai, Marc gave us an insight into the world of vinification and his chosen way for making wine. He uses gravity to put the grapes into the vats to best avoid any damage to the grapes. He then closely monitors the wines to control the fermentation process, and then chooses how to age the wines, either in vats or in different types of oak barrels.

In the caveau, we put our noses to work! Wine gives off lots of different aromas that we can put into three categories. The primary aromas are linked to the grape varietal, the secondary aromas to the way in which the wine is vinified, and the tertiary aromas from the way that the wine is aged. We tried to identify different aromas to help us prepare for the wine tasting to follow.

After this full morning, it was the time for lunch. A lovely meal, prepared by Mme Plouzeau, was accompanied by wines from the winery, including an avant-première tasting of Marc’s latest wine, “Silice”, a Chinon white which paired perfectly with the starter.

We continued the day with a visit to the cellar underneath the Chinon fortress where the wines are aged.

This magical place is a large cave, forming one of many underground galleries beneath the streets of Chinon. It was from here that the stone was extracted to build the castle above. The cellar has been in the family for 3 generations and Marc uses it to age his wines in oak barrels.

We had the good fortune to taste a number of different wines that are still in the ageing process. This is an unconventional way to taste wines as they have yet to reach their maturity and so you have to try and imagine what they might become in a few months or even years time! As we were to find out, some of the wines still have many months to go before their tannic structure softens.

And so the day drew to a close after this wine tasting full of potential and promise. We now have to wait patiently until the Clos de la Bonnelière will be ready for bottling!

The 2017 Wine Experience Days got underway last weekend in Burgundy at Domaine Chapelle with a couple of great Vinification Experience Days with the clients of the 2016 vintage. The aim of this wine course spent at the winery is to learn all about the work in the cellar and the choices that the winemaker takes to make the wine between the harvest and the time that it is ready for bottling. As we were to learn, the winemaker’s job is far from finished once the grapes have been harvested.

The days were split into different workshops. After the introductions, one group followed Jean-François Chapelle into the fermentation hall. Here he explained how the grapes are received during the harvest and then put into the vats. We learnt about the fermentation process and how the winemakers closely monitor and control it to ensure that it takes place in the optimal conditions. Jean-François explained the difference between the “vin de goutte” and the “vin de presse”, and the differences in making white and red wine.

After the first fermentation has finished and the wine has been racked, the majority of the red wines at Domaine Chapelle, including the Clos des Cornières red wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, are moved to the underground cellar to continue their ageing in the oak barrels.

Amongst the barrels, Jean-François explained how the wine loses some of its acidity during the malo-lactic fermentation and let us in on the choices that he makes regarding the different types of barrel used. To better understand the role that the barrels play in making wine, we tasted some wines directly from the barrel to compare the difference between new and old barrels. The same wine had been put into the barrels, so the only difference was the barrel. It’s amazing to see how the aromas and taste vary. The questions abounded, and we covered many topics from chaptalisation, the levels of sulphites added, and the different methods used to close the bottles.

Upstairs, another workshop run by Yvette Chapelle prepared us to better taste wine by putting or senses to the test. Using small bottles containing different aromas found in red wine, we had a go at trying to identify the individual smells. Not as easy as you would at first think!

We then tasted four different cups containing a saline, sweet, acidic and bitter solution to appreciate how they feel differently in the mouth.

After the morning’s full programme, we made the most of the glorious sunshine and enjoyed a glass of Santenay St Jean 2015 white wine in the courtyard whilst Jean-François answered more of our questions.

Over lunch, we continued the wine tasting with some of the red Burgundy wines, starting with the Santenay Clos des Cornières 2012, followed by the Santenay La Comme premier cru 2014, and finishing with the Chassagne Montrachet Morgeot premier cru red wine.
We started the afternoon in the Clos des Cornières vineyard to visit our adopted vines. They were revelling in the sunshine and were only too happy to have their photo taken with their adoptive owners!

Jean-François then explained the different geology of the surrounding vineyards and how that determines the AOC classification system of Burgundy and Santenay wines. He pointed out the three distinct areas of our Clos des Cornières vineyard, knowledge we needed for the final wine tasting of the day.

Back in the courtyard, we tasted the three different wines from the Clos de Cornières vineyard that are vinified separately and are only blended together shortly before bottling. This enabled us to see the difference that the age of a vine plays, and to get a sneak preview of the potential of the 2016 vintage. The wines were at different stages of the malo-lactic fermentation process, so also enabled us to see how they change.

And so the day drew to a close. Many thanks to Jean-François and Yvette for sharing their passion for winemaking with us, and to all of the participants for making it such a great weekend!

For your Christmas gifts, there are now just two weeks left to go. If you are looking for an original Christmas gift for a wine lover, the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience Christmas gift packs can be delivered for orders received up to the 20th December for deliveries outside of France and the 21st December for mainland France. For the really last minute gifts, an email version of the certificate can be sent for orders received up to 12:30 on the 24th December, and the welcome pack will follow after Christmas.

To surprise a wine lover this Christmas, adopt some vines for their Christmas present. You can choose from our 8 partner wineries, all of which are organically certified. For a wine-making year, they will follow the making of their organic wine, right up until the bottling of their personalised wine bottles at the end of the experience.

And to make the wine gift more hands on, you can add a Discovery Experience Day in the vineyard with the winemaker to learn all about the work on the vines to prepare them for harvest. Or you can include a Harvest Experience Day to pick the grapes and follow their journey into the fermentation tanks or a Vinification Experience Day to learn about what happens to the wine once it is in the cellar. All of the days take place from 09:30 to 16:00, and allow a total immersion into the life of a winemaker by getting involved in the work and by sharing a meal and tasting the wines.

All of our partner vineyards are organically or biodynamically certified, and all of our winemakers are selected for being passionate about their profession. They will welcome you with open arms to share their knowledge and passion!

Our personalised Christmas wine gift boxes are sure to delight, and the welcome gift pack includes some presents to use straight away, a wine cooler bag, a re-usable glass wine stopper, a DropStop to make sure you don’t spill any of your precious wine, and a personalised vine adoption certificate.

With the recent launch of the 2017 wine guides, Gourmet Odyssey's partner winemakers have once again been selected by France's most renowned wine critics and rewarded for the quality of their wines. Here is an overview of the mentions that our partner winemakers received.

Château de la Bonnelière

Château de la Bonnelière, near Chinon in the Loire Valley, received a rating of 15.5/20 in the Bettane + Desseauve wine guide for the 2014 vintage of the Clos de la Bonnelière. This is the red wine chosen by Gourmet Odyssey for the adopt-a-vine Wine Experience.

And many more of their wines were also mentioned in the guide, such as the Clos des Roches Saint-Paul 2014, the Chapelle 2014, and the Rive Gauche 2015.

Domaine Chapelle

Domaine Chapelle in the picturesque Burgundy village of Santenay had two of their wines selected for the 2017 Guide Hachette; Les Petites Lolières 2013 Aloxe Corton Premier Cru red wine and the Saint-Jean 2014 Santenay white wine who has “an intense nose of white flowers and yellow fruits, and a smooth, buttery finish on the palate with a good mineral freshness.”

Domaine la Cabotte

In the Rhone Valley, Domaine la Cabotte was also honoured. Their Garance wine, the organic red wine also chosen by Gourmet Odyssey for the Wine Experience, was chosen by the Bettane+Desseauve wine guide, receiving a rating of 12.5/20 for the 2014 vintage.

The wine was also selected for the Guide Hachette in which they described it as having “a harmonious nose with lovely black fruit, violet and spice aromas. It is well balanced on the palate, at first smooth, but then becoming stronger with a lengthy finish. Good potential.”

Domaine Stentz-Buecher

Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Wettolsheim, Alsace also had a number of their wines chosen for the Bettane + Desseauve 2017 wine guide. The Who Am I? 2014 was rated 16/20, the Riesling Tannenbuehl Flavien 2014 received 13/20 and the Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Hengst 2014 scored 16/20.

Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard

In Chablis, the wines from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard were chosen multiple times in the different guides. The Bettane + Desseauve 2017 wine guide included the Chablis Côte de Lechet Premier Cru 2014 and the Chablis Montmains Premier Cru 2015 wines among their top picks.

In the Meilleurs Vins de France wine guide, the Chablis Sainte-Claire, which was recently selected by Gourmet Odyssey, was the star. It was rated 14.5/20 and described as being “fine and distinctive with a nice freshness.”

So another nice spread of awards this year to recognise the hard work and talent of our partner winemakers. Well done!

An original gift that is personalised, fun, organic and participative... If these are your criteria for an ideal Father's Day gift and your dad is a wine lover, then Gourmet Odyssey has the perfect wine present for you. Adopt some organic vines in France and give an unforgettable Wine Experience gift.

More than just a wine course or wine tasting gift. By adopting some vines, your dad will become an apprentice winemaker and follow the making of his own organic wine at one of our partner wineries in France.

Our Wine Experience gift pack will allow your dad to keep up to date with the news and work at his winery, and keep track of what his happening to his adopted vines via the newsletters and photos. At the end of the wine-making year, your father will receive a bottle of wine for each adopted vine. He can even choose the name of his wine and personalise the wine labels!

And for an even more participative experience, include one or more of the days at the winery to meet the winemakers, see the adopted vines, and get involved in working in the vineyard, the harvest, or one of the wine-making workshops.

Each day is a full day, lasting between 09:30 and 16:00, and includes lunch and a tasting of the wines from the winery. They are each valid for two people, so your dad will get to share a good moment over a glass or two of wine!

All of our partner wineries are chosen for the quality of their wine, the passion of the winemakers in sharing and talking about the art of winemaking, and they are all organically or biodynamically certified.

To have something for your Dad to open on Father's day, each gift pack contains a sommelier's apron, a DropStop, and vine adoption certificate. Standard delivery takes two working days in France, and between 3 and 6 days for the rest of Europe. For last minute Father's Day gifts, we can also send a copy of the adoption certificate by email .

Once the grapes are harvested, the work of the winemaker is far from over. There is still much to do during the fermentation and ageing stages before the wine is finally ready to be bottled, and this is what we were gathered at Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Alsace to find out during the Vinification Experience Day.

The quality of the wine depends also on the work carried out in the vineyard, and so after the introductions, we headed to the Rosenberg vineyard, to see where our adopted vines are located and to get a better understanding of the local terroir. Céline pointed out the different plots of Grand Cru vines around us, and we also took a few minutes to take some pictures of our adopted vines.

We were also accompanied by Jean-Jacques, Céline’s father, who founded the winery with his wife, Simone, in 1975. With the hot weather of the past few days, the vines have sprung to life and Jean-Jacques briefly explained the work that will shortly be keeping them busy to de-bud the vines.

But the principal purpose of the day was to learn about the wine-making side of things, so we headed back to the winery. To prepare us for the different wines that we would taste throughout the day, the first workshop was designed to develop our senses and help us describe our appreciation of the wines. We talked about how the different senses can be used to help us identify the characteristics of the wines, and we put our noses to the test to try and name some of the aromas that can be found in white wine. Not always as easy as you would think!

We then descended into the cellar with Stéphane, who manages the wine-making process at the winery. He talked to us about how the grapes are received and pressed at harvest time and how the fermentation process then transforms the sugar into alcohol.

We had the chance to taste the 2015 vintage of our Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine directly from the cask, and to get a first impression of the potential for our wine. The wine had finished its malo-lactic fermentation and was very concentrated both aromatically and on the palate. Very promising t this stage!

Stéphane then took us into the barrel room and talked to us about the difference in vinifying and ageing red wines. We tasted a wine made from Pinot Noir grapes that those of us that had participated in the Harvest Experience Day had helped to pick.

Alsace is a wine-growing region where, for the most part, the wines are defined by their grape varietal and the terroir in which the vines are located. To better understand these differences, there’s no better way than to taste the wines!

To start with, a blind tasting test of three different wines, where we had to identify three different grape varietals. In the second series, we again tasted three different wines, but this time each were Riesling wines, the only difference being the terroir. The first wine was a Riesling Tradition wine that had been blended from different plots, the second a Riesling Ortel that contains the grapes from one single vineyard, and the third a Riesling Steingrubler Grand Cru, from one of Alsace’s most sought after vineyards.

We then tasted a Crémant d’Alsace with a savoury Kouglopf before sitting down to lunch where we tasted some more of the wines produced by the winery.

In the afternoon, we returned to the cellar, and saw the where the wines are bottled and labelled and talked more about the choices of the winemaker in using cork or alternatives. Time for a few more questions, and the day drew to a close.

Many thanks to all the participants for a very interactive and lively day, and of course to the Stentz-Buecher family for welcoming us and sharing their passion for winemaking.

The annual quest to find an original Mother’s Day present is once again upon us. If your mum is a wine lover, we might have the perfect gift for her. Adopt some vines in France in an organic French vineyard, and she’ll get to follow the making of her own organic wine from the work in the vineyard to the bottling of her own personalised bottles of wine.

The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience is a great Mother’s Day gift idea that will let her in behind the scenes to learn all about the art of winemaking. She’ll receive an adopt-a-vine welcome gift pack to have something to open straight away, and then thanks to the newsletters and photos from the winemaker, she’ll follow all the key stages in the vineyard and cellar, and will be able to personalise the labels for her bottles of wine.

And if you think she’ll enjoy a short break in France to explore one of France’s wine growing regions, and actually get involved in helping to make her wine, you can include, or she can add at a later date, a Discovery, Harvest or Vinification Experience Day at her chosen winery. Each Experience Day is valid for two people, with a winemaker’s lunch of regional delicacies and wine tasting included.

All of our partner wineries are organically certified, and are selected for the quality of their wine and the enthusiasm of the winemakers to share their passion for wine and how it is made. One thing is for sure. At the end of her Wine Experience gift, your Mum will appreciate wine in a whole new light, once she has learnt about all of the hard work, skill, love and effort that has gone into making her personalised bottles of wine.

Our welcome gift packs are delivered within two working days in France and 2-5 days for the rest of Europe depending on the country and delivery option selected. For those last minute Mother’s Day gifts, a personalised adopt-a-vine certificate can be emailed.

So go on, and spoil your Mum this year with her own mini plot of vines in France. It’s sure to be a Mother’s Day gift that she won’t be expecting!

We couldn't have asked for better weather for the latest Vinification
Experience Day at Domaine
Chapelle. The aim of the day was to learn more about the
process of making and ageing wine, from harvest time until the wine
is ready for bottling.

After a welcome coffee, the day started with a workshop in
tasting wines, led by Yvette Chapelle. This session starts with
an exercise to identify the different aromas that can be found in
wine.

We put our sense of smell to the test, first with the primary
aromas of fruit and flowers, and then we tried to name a series
of tertiary aromas that can be found in wines that have been aged
in oak.

The wine tasting session finished with a gustative test to
identify the differences between sweet, saline, acidic and bitter
solutions.

Jean-François Chapelle took us on a tour of the fermentation hall
and the cellar. In the fermentation hall he explained how the
wines ferment and worked in the period immediately following the
harvest.

In the cellar, we then learnt how the wines change when aged in
different types of oak barrel. We tasted some wines direct from
the barrel to see firsthand the differences in some of the 2014
wines that are currently ageing. Then it was time for the
aperitif. A Santenay 2013 village white wine, accompanied by some
gougères before sitting down to enjoy lunch.

We headed out into the sunshine after lunch, and made our way to
the Clos des Cornières vineyard, where our adopted vines are to
be found. Jean-François taught us a few more things about the
local geology and the vines in general.

We finished the day back at the winery with a final tasting of
the 2014 Clos de Cornières wine which is currently ageing in oak
barrels in the cellar. The vineyard is made up of three distinct
zones with three different ages of vines which are referred to as
the Park, Young and Old. We tasted each of these wines
separately, as the final wine will be made up of a blend of the
three. Many thanks to the team at Domaine Chapelle for their warm
welcome, and to our clients for their good cheer.

There's just two weeks of shopping to go until Christmas, but
luckily if you haven't yet finished (or even started !) buying your
Christmas presents, the Gourmet Odyssey gift packs are available to
be sent up to 12:30 Paris time on the 22nd December, depending on
the destination country. For the very last minute gifts, we can
also send a certificate by email for all orders received by 12:30
on the 24th December, and we'll post the welcome pack to arrive
shortly after Christmas. Here are a few Christmas gift ideas for wine lovers.

Adopt some vines this Christmas for someone
close in one of our 7 organic partner vineyards in France. For a winemaking
year, they'll follow the evolution of their wine and will end up
with their own personalised bottles of wine.

To complete this gift idea, you can also include one or more of
the 3 Wine Experience Days at the winery. Participate in the work
in the vineyard to help produce the best quality grapes during a
Discovery Experience Day, or join the
Harvest Experience Day to pick the grapes and
follow their journey into the vat. The third option is the
Vinification Experience Day to learn about
the work in the cellar to ferment, age and blend the wines. Each
day allows you to get involved in the work of the winemaker, to
share a meal and taste wines from the winery.

All of our partner winemakers are organically certified
and are passionate about their profession. They'll welcome you
with pleasure and will let you in behind the scenes to learn more
about the fascinating world of wine.

This unique and authentic approach to wine makes a great personalised Christmas gift. To have something to
put underneath the Christmas tree and open on Christmas day, the
welcome pack contains a sommelier's apron, a DropStop,
personalised certificate and more information about the chosen
experience.

It's the height of wedding season, and with it comes the search for
that original wedding present idea. If wine is a passion of the
wedding couple, and you are looking for a personalised wine gift that lasts, adopt a plot of
vines for them in France!

One of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience gifts will enable the newlyweds to
understand all of the work that the winemaker undertakes in the
vineyard and the cellar when making their personalised bottles of wine. They will
follow all of the key stages via newsletters and photos as their
vintage unfolds.

The newlyweds can roll up their sleeves and get involved
themselves if you include in their Wine Experience one of the Discovery, Harvest or Vinification Experience Days. They'll get to
visit one of our seven partner vineyards to participate in the
pruning, de-budding, harvesting or discovering the art of ageing
and blending wines in the cellar. The winemakers will be there to
explain their work, share their passion, and of course to let you
taste their wines during the winemakers meal.

All of our partner wineries are organically certified,
and are chosen for the quality of their wines, and the enthusiasm
of the winemakers in explaining the intricacies of their
profession. This means that the newlyweds will embark on an
unforgettable experience to follow the making of their wine, from
the same year as their wedding.

The welcome gift packs are delivered in 2 to 4 working days
depending on the country of delivery, and for any last minute gifts, we can email the adoption
certificate ahead of the welcome pack.

The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience is an original idea for a
wedding present for wine lovers and those curious to learn the
secrets behind making a quality wine. An original wine gift that
will last long in the memory.

We spent a sunny weekend in Bordeaux for the last of the 2013
vintage Vinification Experience Days at Château Beau Rivage. The
aim of this wine course is to better understand the vinification,
ageing and blending of wine. As we were to find out, the work of
the winemaker is far from over once the grapes have entered the
chai at harvest time!

To start talking about the fermentation and vinification stages,
there is no better place than the chai, and it was here that
Christine Nadalié, the winemaker at Château Beau Rivage,
explained all about the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation.

Christine comes from a family of coopers and as she says, she
fell into a barrel at a very young age! The barrel room at the
winery is very impressive, and Christine talks with as much
passion about her barrels as she does her wines. She explained
the importance of the source of the oak used for the barrels and
the different toasts that are used to influence the structure of
the wine. With the stirring of the lees, topping up the angel's
share, and racking the barrels, there's more than enough to keep
the maitre de chai busy!

We then took a few minutes to venture into the vineyard and enjoy
the sunshine. With a week to go before Easter, instead of hunting
for the Easter eggs, we searched for the adopted vines!

The Vinification Experience Day is the course where we taste the
most wine. To better prepare us for the wine tastings, we
organised a workshop to identify the aromas found in wine. When
tasting wines, finding the words to describe our impressions is
often the most difficult thing.

The first tasting was blind, and we had to find the difference
between two wines. They were both however identical wines, the
only difference being the type of barrel that they had been aged
in. The comparison showed us the aromatic and difference in taste
of a wine aged in French oak and a wine aged in American oak.

At lunchtime, we dined in the 1902 restaurant, located at the
family cooperage. During the meal we tasted wines from the range
made by Christine.

Blending wines is a true art form, and we set aside the afternoon
to better understand it. First of all, we tasted wines from four
different grape varietals separately - merlot, cabernet
sauvignon, malbec and petit verdot to appreciate the
characteristics of each.

We then made several blends to see how the wine changes when
different combinations of grape varietals are used. Even a small
change in percentage can have a big impact on the final wine. We
gradually honed our blends to try and find the best wine.

Many thanks to Christine and Guillaume from Château Beau Rivage
for sharing their passion for their profession with us, and to
all of the participants for their enthusiasm. We now just have to
wait patiently as we give the wine the time to age sufficiently
before knowing the blend that Christine will choose for our
cuvée!

At this time of year, the vines are nearing the end of their winter
rest. The winemakers are finishing preparing the vineyards for the
2014 vintage, and are busy attending wine fairs to showcase their
2011 and 2012 wines. But what's happening in the cellar with the
2013 vintage?

As soon as the grapes are harvested, they start the vinification
process to extract the different compounds from the grapes and to
optimise the quality of the wine produced. Once the grapes are
brought to the chai from the vineyard, the grape must starts to
ferment to transform the sugar into alcohol with the help of
yeast. The juice then becomes wine. Often a second fermentation
then takes place to turn the malic acid into lactic acid, making
the wine rounder and softer. The wine then enters the ageing
period in vats or oak barrels.

The general principle seems fairly straightforward, but there are
different processes according to grape varietal, colour and wine
producing regions. And at each step, the winemaker takes
decisions that are crucial in influencing the aroma and taste of
the wine. These choices are personal and so there are as many
different ways of vinifying and ageing wine as there are
winemakers!

Without going into specific vinification details for rosé,
sparkling or sweet wines, there are two principal details for
vinifying white and red wines.

First the white wines. Once the grapes have been picked and
sorted, and have arrived in the chai, they are put into a wine
press to extract the juice from the grapes. The time that the
pulp and grape skins are in contact with each other is very short
for white wine, explaining why the wine is lightly coloured. Next
the juice is clarified by removing the solid particles present in
the must, such as skin, pip or stalk particles. This is done by
letting the particles settle or by centrifuge. The juice then
ferments to become wine and enters the ageing phase which can be
just a few weeks or a few years for wines that are made for
keeping. Ageing can be in barrels or vats.

For the red wines, the process is slightly different. Once the
grapes have been picked and sorted, they are put into a vat,
either whole or having been separated from the stems. Sometimes
the grapes are lightly crushed to set free some of the must. In
the vat the grapes are left to macerate so that the juice can
extract the tannins and colour from the skin and pips.

The alcoholic fermentation starts at the same time and generally
lasts between one and three weeks. Once it has finished we draw
off the liquid. The remaining solid matter is known as marc and
is then pressed to extract the wine that has been soaked into it.
This is known as press wine, and the winemaker can choose whether
or not to blend it with the rest of the wine. The wine is then
left to finish the fermentation, alcoholic and malo-lactic,
before being aged in barrels or vats.

At each step of the way, the winemaker tastes the grapes and
wines, analyses them, and then makes a multitude of decisions
such as how strong to press, whether to de-stem the bunches, how
long to let the wine macerate, how long to age the wine, whether
to use vats or barrels... As many important choices as there are
different wines!